Not As It Seems
by LittleWolf95
Summary: Toralei is known as the school jerk of Monster High but when given an assignment she is forced to face some of the more difficult parts of her life. But will she ever be able to admit what is bothering her? And even if she does will she get a happy ending?
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I own nothing. All characters belong to Mattel. I am merely playing around with headcannon and what if scenarios while sleep deprived. I am making nothing from writing this.**

Toralei sighed as she glanced down at the assignment that had been given to the class. _How can I write about something that I don't have?_ She wondered as she closed her eyes, trying to keep herself from thinking about it. _I can just skip the stupid essay, what's one zero going to do for my final grade?_ She wondered as she fell back onto the bed. _I guess I could always write about being taken in but then that would just cause more drama than it would be worth...Heck, I don't even know_ _ **what**_ _our relationship could be called...I mean, she obviously doesn't treat me like a daughter._

Sighing the ginger-furred werecat turned her attention back toward the paper, closing her eyes as she thought back to the night that she and the twins had been discovered. She could remember the cold rain, how the normies had chased them out of the human part of town as the rain pelted against them, mixing with the blood that had stained her face from the rip on her ear.

 _I wonder what she really thought when she ran into us...Was it pity since we were all a mess? Sympathy?_ She thought sadly as she glanced down at the paper once again. _Don't think about it Toralei, don't think about how safe you felt that night, don't think about how warm it was when she was holding you that night...How it felt knowing that for once you didn't have to rely on just yourself to be strong for everyone else._

Her thoughts were interrupted by the sound of someone entering her dorm room, causing her to look up only to see Howleen standing there with a concerned look on her face.

"I have been knocking for like three minutes straight. Are you okay Toralei?" the younger werewolf asked, causing the fifteen-year-old to sigh.

"Not really...I have a lot on my mind." Toralei confessed as she drew her knees to her chest "Purrsephone and Meowlody have already left for spring break... the thing is...I don't know if I _**can**_ go home for break."

Howleen's ears perked up at this.

"Why not? I'm sure your parents must miss you since you live here in the dorms." the freshman asked, earning a glare from the werecat who glanced away almost instantly, ears drooping.

"I don't have a family okay? Not really." she confessed, glancing toward the window as she continued "There's a reason that everyone seems to think that Meowlody and Purrsephone are my sisters...It's because there for a while...we were the only thing each other had. It wasn't long after we were taken in off the streets that they got adopted by a family of shapeshifters but as usual...I was stuck alone. Just so happens that our _rescuer_ didn't have the heart to kick me out...It's been three years and literally, _**nothing**_ has changed. You have no idea how lucky you are to have a family as large as yours."

Howleen could barely believe what she was being told. Toralei rarely told her anything that could be considered a secret, yet here she was telling her something that Howleen was sure only a few people at monster high knew.

"why don't you just tell your foster parents how you feel?" she suggested although she instantly regretted it as Toralei seemed to look even more depressed.

"I _know_ how it would go okay? I would be told how _family_ doesn't always have to be traditional yet every single time I _**want**_ to go home for the weekend I can't because keeping me has got to be this huge stupid secret that no one can know about. Like is reputation so important or am I _that unlikable_?" She said, her voice lowering to a whisper on the last part.

 _I haven't even done anything to her that would make her want me out of her hair...I mean...I know I'll be alone again after graduation but I would like to at least know what it felt like to have_ _ **somewhere**_ _to turn when things got bad._ Her mind raced as a stray tear ran down her cheek.

"Excuse me, I gotta go." Toralei stated before rushing off, shifting halfway down the hall as she made her way out of the school.

"What the fang is wrong with her?" Howleen nearly jumped out of her skin when she heard her sister's voice from the hall, though she quickly shook it off.

"Don't worry about it. I don't think you would believe me if I told you."

* * *

Meanwhile, Toralei had stopped on a hill outside of campus, shifting back into her humanoid form as she glanced up at the sky. _Why am I so pathetic? I never needed anyone...I made sure that the ghouls had food and shelter, I made sure that the normies didn't end up injuring either of them...I should be able to spend break alone...even if most monsters spend spring break celebrating their own holidays with their family._

Taking out her phone she timidly typed out the words:

 _ **Is it safe for me to come home? I kinda want to spend the holiday with you.**_

Re-reading them she hissed, erasing the last part of the message until it only said:

 _ **Can I come home for break?**_

"She won't care what I want anyway...Whoever does? I'm just everyone's problem."


	2. Chapter 2

"So you got to go home yesterday?" Meowlody asked as she poked at the lump of tofu in the soup she had ordered.

"Yeah, although I wasn't home for ten minutes before _she_ had to go to a meeting. Like would it hurt her just to take a few hours off so that we could just _talk?_ I mean, I get that she's busy and all but I feel like I never get to see anything more than her formal, business side. I would _love_ it if I could make spring break special you know?" Toralei answered, sighing as she glanced down at her own lunch. "A matter of fact, she had to go meet this person later today...So I'm probably eating dinner alone tonight."

"I know I usually don't complain like this when it comes to fish but...Whatever the fang this was fried in smells like sewage...Why don't we go to the mall for lunch instead of eating this crap?"

* * *

"I don't know, Clawrk. I don't want to force the girl into anything."

Howleen had been spending her free time in the quiet of her room, listening to music that for once didn't have to be painfully loud just to hear. However that meant she _**could**_ hear other things going on around her and right now, the conversation downstairs peaked her interest.

"Nora, I assure you that it'll be fine. You are over thinking it a lot more than you should."

 _Overthinking? What could she be overthinking and isn't that the headmistress's voice?_

"She just seems distant lately. I know that since someone posted those videos of 'real' werewolves that I've been busy with the local council but she has been acting strange ever since Christmas break."

"She's a teenager, they have moods...I should know...I live with three of them."

Howleen heard a sigh then, which she assumed was coming from Nora.

"I hope you're right."

Quickly going back into her room Howleen pulled out her Icoffin and typed out a message to Twyla:

 _ **Hey ghoul, meet me at the park in thirty minutes...You won't believe what I have to tell you**_


End file.
